


Steadfast

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-24
Updated: 2007-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-25 05:14:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1633397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Una never told anyone of her feelings for Walter. More downbeat than I hoped, but that's probably to be expected given the subject! I hope you enjoy this extra treat, anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steadfast

**Author's Note:**

> Written for lordess renegade

 

 

Una never told anyone of her feelings for Walter. When the news arrived, when hope was blotted out with a few telegraphed words carried from Ingleside by a stonily tearless Susan, she fell into a chair in the parlour for a while, then pushed herself upright and helped with dinner. Afterwards, she wrapped herself in a shawl and trudged down into Rainbow Valley. The sun was low over the trees, and she watched it fall over the horizon for Walter Blythe.

Boys had always frightened her with their rough and tumble games, but he had never been like that. The very first time she'd seen him, he had looked like a fairy prince, slim with finely boned features and hair the same shade as her own. He'd thrilled them all with stories, often pulled from his own imagination; sometimes, like the Piper, finessed from traditional tales. The day he'd got into the fight (she never thought of that scene without shuddering in fear, although Walter had certainly not been the one in danger), he'd risen in the estimation of almost everyone, even her brothers. But she'd seen the look on his face; she knew that victory brought him little pleasure.

Una had never hated the Piper, although she'd always known that Walter would follow and she would not be able to. That was the way of it. When the war came, she knew, too, and there was nothing that she could do about it. Walter would go, although he hated violence, and she would pray for him. She prayed constantly as she went about her daily business, hoping that God wouldn't see this as impertinence. She read the newspapers obsessively at night, desperate for information about what was happening to Walter, how he might be living. In bed, she followed him in her imagination, filling in the gaps left by the newspapers with hard pillows, fear, wet clothes on a chilly night. The socks she knitted were all for him, although they were mailed to unknown soldiers. The food she sent down to the poor down by the harbour was made for love of Walter Blythe. Everything in Una Meredith's life was done for love of Walter Blythe that year. If love and prayer could have kept him safe, she would have saved him.

When Rilla brought her the letter - _gave_ her the letter, and that was when Una knew that her secret was no longer her own, for why else would Rilla Blythe, so recently one of the most thoughtless girls in Glen St Mary, give away such a treasured possession? - she kissed it, then tucked it into her wrap and felt warmer than she had done since the news had arrived. After dinner, when her chores were finished, she again wandered into Rainbow Valley and sought out the pair of trees - one spruce, one maple - that Walter had named the Tree Lovers. As the fairy bells, rusty now, tinkled in the evening breeze, she took out the letter.

_Read her this letter and tell her it's really meant for you both - you two dear, fine loyal girls. Tomorrow, when we go over the top - I'll think of you both - of your laughter, Rilla-my-Rilla, and the _steadfastness_ in Una's blue eyes - somehow I see those eyes very plainly tonight, too. Yes, you'll both keep faith - I'm sure of that - you and Una. And so - goodnight._

The late September sunshine filtered through Rainbow Valley. Una pressed the letter to her dry lips again, and watched the sun go down for Walter Blythe. 

 


End file.
